Swiss researchers at Eawag are contributing to an EU-wide partnership for chemical risk assessment aimed at protecting human health and the environment.
Every day, people and ecosystems are exposed to a wide range of toxic chemical substances, from pharmaceuticals and pesticides to industrial compounds. Many of these chemicals eventually enter the environment, often with insufficient understanding of their long-term behaviour and effects. The Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals (PARC) is a large-scale European initiative that brings together over 200 partners to strengthen the scientific foundations of chemical risk assessment and support the development of future regulation. In doing so, PARC contributes to the European Union’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the European Green Deal’s Zero Pollution Action Plan.
Switzerland participates in PARC through several leading universities and research institutions, among them the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag). Eawag conducts cutting-edge environmental research with a clear mission: to generate knowledge that leads to practical solutions for protecting water resources and ecosystems. SwissCore had the opportunity to speak with Prof. Dr. Juliane Hollender and Prof. Dr. Kristin Schirmer, two researchers at Eawag who are actively involved in PARC through different strands of work.
PARC consists of nine different Work Packages (WP). Juliane Hollender, an expert in environmental chemistry, contributes to WP4 Monitoring and Exposure. Her team focuses on identifying chemical contaminants and their transformation products in aquatic systems and improving the analytical methods used to measure them. One of their key areas of work in PARC involves perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs, a class of synthetic chemicals used in everyday products that are known for their persistence in the environment and potential toxicity. In a case study funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the team is examining PFAS levels in wastewater treatment plants in Switzerland and sharing results with European partners to create a comparative dataset. They are also developing advanced mass spectrometric techniques to analyse organic pollutants and investigating how human metabolites of pharmaceuticals behave in wastewater treatment, which helps refine environmental exposure assessments.
Professor Kristin Schirmer contributes to Eawag’s involvement in WP5 Hazard Assessment. Her research centres on understanding the effects of chemicals on aquatic organisms with a specific focus on developing new models that can replace traditional animal testing. One such method is an OECD test guideline that allows scientists to predict acute fish toxicity without using animals. Her team is expanding this approach to cover broader groups of substances, such as Bisphenols, and is working to continue such developments in close collaboration with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) within the PARC framework. Another development partially supported by PARC is the advancement of machine learning models for aquatic toxicity predictions, which has, among other accomplishments, resulted in the ADORE database, which consolidates toxicological data for researchers wanting to benchmark their models. Eawag colleagues of Kristin Schirmer moreover investigate the neurotoxic effects of common substances like pesticides and pharmaceuticals through small-scale behavioural studies using zebrafish embryos as alternatives to conventional fish tests.
Collaboration is at the heart of PARC’s success. As Professor Schirmer notes, “everyone contributes a little puzzle piece to create the whole picture.” In toxicology, partners across Europe work towards a shared goal but apply different approaches, allowing for broader and more innovative outcomes. Professor Hollender describes how exchanging samples and aligning analytical techniques across institutions ensures strong quality assurance within the consortium. Eawag’s participation was made possible thanks to national funding. Due to Switzerland’s status as a non-associated third country in Horizon Europe at the time the project began, the State Secretariat for Research, Innovation and Education (SERI) has covered 50% of the costs, while the remaining costs are funded by relevant stakeholders and internal resources. “SERI really buffered the impact of Switzerland’s non-association.”
Switzerland contributes to PARC with a high level of scientific and technological expertise, supported by strong research infrastructure and a motivation to deliver practical impact. The partnership goes both ways: partner countries who do not have such favourable conditions benefit from the Swiss contribution while Swiss partners benefit from being embedded in a broader European research environment. The researchers express the importance of Switzerland’s participation. As Professor Hollender states, “It’s important that we are visible and can help shape the future of Europe.” Professor Schirmer adds, “If it helps Switzerland, it’s great. If it helps the world, even better.”
Preparations are under way for the second phase of PARC, which will run until 2029. The research groups at Eawag are currently in the process of submitting or supporting new proposals and looking for partners within PARC. The aim is to build on the achievements from the first phase and expand the research to cover a broader range of substances, chemical/toxicological analysis methods or additional matrices. Further, Eawag will continue its partnerships with stakeholder, such as ECHA and OECD, to strengthen the scientific basis for non-animal testing methods. Such ongoing involvement ensures that Swiss research not only remains closely aligned with European efforts but also actively contributes to advancing chemical safety and environmental protection globally.